Winter Plans A Late-Season Punch…

If you’re itching to get into the garden and plant all those spring vegetables, I caution you to hold off! This is a map showing projected temperatures at 850 mb (~4,500′ for us) next Friday evening, March 1, at 6 PM CST. You can see much of the eastern half of the country may be below freezing at that level, which corresponds to chilly air at the ground. In fact, frost looks pretty likely for the end of next week and some parts of Acadiana may be in for a freeze by next weekend. Back in late-January I planted some Siberian tomatoes in my garden, an heirloom variety that is reported to set fruit at low temperatures. The problem, though, is that the plants are nowhere close to even flowering! Our relatively cool February is keeping the plants quite small and the cold air later next week will be of no help. So, hang tight before planting any warm-season crops, or plan of doing some covering! We may finally break this chilly pattern by the second week of March, so we can get growing at that point!